In what defenders of life (like my organization the Human Life Review) hope will be both a state and national trend, a courageous New York county took the first significant governmental step to officially rebuke New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the recent passage of his infanticide law.
On April 2, New York Putnam’s County Legislature passed a resolution calling for the repeal of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s so-called Reproductive Health Act, which strips away protections from the unborn until the moment of birth — and after, as it removed the requirement that a child surviving an abortion must receive medical attention.
The resolution was initially presented at a March 18 meeting of the Putnam County’s Health Committee. No surprise, Planned Parenthood affiliates took this committee hearing seriously and did their best to voice their opposition. In spite of this, the resolution succeeded and moved forward to the full legislative body April 2, passing 7-1.
The 2-page resolution enumerates the grave concerns citizens have about the law, including this: “while New York law formerly required a second physician to be on hand to care for a child twenty (20) weeks or older born alive during the course of an abortion,” to provide ‘immediate legal protection’…the RHA repealed such protection for a born-alive infant, essentially authorizing infanticide.”
Pro-life citizens showed up in droves to attend the legislative session; in fact, so many came out that the actual courthouse meeting room was filled to capacity, with an overflow crowd reaching out of the building.
The abortion industry and its affiliates, such as the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund, dedicated resources to bombard legislators with intimidating hate emails prior to the vote; they know that this is a spark that can light fires — other local NY public officials could follow in Putnam’s footsteps and change the NY narrative that Cuomo and the abortion industry own New York. And this spark is fueled by public opinion: recent polls show that the majority of New Yorkers and the majority of Americans — including those who identify as pro-choice — object to the law that self-proclaimed “uber progressive” Gov. Cuomo holds up as an inspiration for the country.
In response to the New York law, and the chilling remarks of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on a similar law pending in Virginia, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska introduced on January 31 his Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protections Act.
Sasse’s act has now been blocked for the 30th time by Democrats, many of whom are in the pockets of Big Abortion (in 2018, the SuperPAC Planned Parenthood Votes contributed over 5 million dollars in federal elections, to support pro-abortion candidates and oppose pro-life candidates). Meanwhile Vermont and Rhode Island have passed similar radical abortion and infanticide laws, and other states have legislation pending.
As columnist and pundit Tammy Bruce wrote, after a late February vote to block Sasse’s act: “What normal, decent person could oppose providing care to a living baby struggling on a table? And yet that is exactly what 44 Democratic senators just did, effectively killing the Ben Sasse-sponsored ‘Born Alive’ bill by keeping it from a floor vote.”
Calling infanticide bills “obscene” and “ghoulish, Bruce says: “As a registered Democrat and someone whose political activism began 32 years ago on the pro-choice issue, like so many other Americans I have been shocked by this turn of events. I not only understand this dynamic change in attitude but am also experiencing a profound change of heart as I consider the nature of the debate that has led us to this point, what this has become, and where I stand.”
In more bad news for the abortion industry, the uproar over infanticide is happening at the same time as the widely anticipated release of the film "Unplanned," which burst onto the scene March 29 and is having unprecedented success. Based on the best-selling book by Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director, now pro-life leader, this film — R-rated for violence because of the abortion scenes — doubled expectations in its opening weekend, and continues to exceed projections as it went into its wider release on its second weekend, remaining in the top ten.
"Unplanned" is a powerful expose of the greed and inhumanity at the very dark heart of Big Abortion, which is nothing more than killing for profit. As the infanticide laws illustrate, abortion advocates insist that the “right” to abortion includes the “right” to a dead baby, there will be no mercy for survivors.
America needs to wake up to the brutality of “choice.”
Maria McFadden Maffucci is the editor of the Human Life Review, www.humanlifereview.com, a quarterly journal devoted to the defense of human life, founded in 1974 by her father, James P. McFadden, Associate Publisher of National Review. She is President of the Human Life Foundation, based in midtown Manhattan, which publishes the Review and supports pregnancy resource centers. Mrs. Maffucci’s articles and editorials have appeared in the Human Life Review, First Things, National Review Online, National Review, Verily, and Crux. A Holy Cross graduate with a BA in Philosophy, she is married to Robert E. Maffucci, and the mother of three children. Her interests include exploring opportunities for individuals with special needs. To read more of her reports — Click Here Now.
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